October 16, 2025 — October 4, 2026
Rosedale Gallery
Arcadia Exhibitions is pleased to present “Maurene Cooper: Blue Angels” from October 16, 2025 through October 4, 2026 in the Rosedale Gallery.
“Blue Angels”, is a series of collodion-based portraits undertaken in 2017 in collaboration with the culturally diverse drag (Queen & King) communities in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Miami. The work is concerned with questions about the visual representation of LGBTQ+ persons from the 19th century. By using the popular image making technology of the Victorian era, Cooper complicates the social and visual history — giving face to a real but imagined community. The prints presented in this exhibition include one-of-a-kind ambrotypes on black glass as well as salt prints, an early form of paper-based printing.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Maurene Cooper, is an artist and educator living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned a MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from Bard College.
Selected exhibitions include; Onomatopee(Eindhoven, Netherlands), Clare Morris Gallery ( Ireland), Soap Factory (Minneapolis), Space Mountain (Miami), and Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (Chicago). Awards and Fellowships include; the Cultural Council of Eindhoven, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and University of Chicago.
Her 2017 monograph, Paint & Polish: Visual Economy and Visual Culture from the West Side (Onomatopee, Eindhoven Netherlands). Paint & Polish was reviewed in Bust.com, New City, Nails Magazine and the Creators Vice Magazine. Artists’ talks have been given at PS1, The Fashion Institute of Technology, Kansas City Art Institute, Elmhurst Art Museum, The Arts Incubator at University of Chicago and Oxbow School of Painting.
